Kickoff is approaching, and baby, it’s cold outside. Most of the fall felt like summer and now we’ve gone straight into winter.

That means we’re going to layer it up tonight for the second round of the playoffs.

Without further ado, here are my picks. (I was 12-5 last week and now 179-46 on the season).

DISTRICT 11 6A

Parkland 35, Easton 7 … That scare from Liberty might have been the best thing that could have happened to the Trojans, who may have been in need of a wakeup call.

Freedom 56, PM West 21 … The Panthers have been the surprise of the EPC North season. But a South team hasn’t lost to a North team and despite a gritty, gutty effort from Jim McCarroll’s boys, I don’t see it happening here.

DISTRICT 11 5A

Whitehall 42, Southern Lehigh 31 … John Toman is right, and a little wrong when he says his team has nothing to lose. True, most expect them to lose. But this may be the Spartans best opportunity to win a district title under the current configuration. I see Southern Lehigh putting points on the board, but I don’t know if they can stop Parvel, Boykin and the Zephyrs often enough.

DISTRICT 11 4A

Bethlehem Catholic 42, Saucon Valley 28 … Perhaps the most stunning playoff result of recent years was Saucon’s 14-6 win over the Golden Hawks in the district semis two years ago. Joe Henrich sure remembers it. Saucon remembers it, too, and will play with confidence. Alstan Wolfe will make plays for the Panthers, but the Golden Hawks may have too many weapons.

DISTRICT 11 3A

Lehighton 34, Jim Thorpe 28 … The Olympians will play better and make it tougher for the Indians, and this one could go to the wire, but this Tribe just finds a way.

Notre Dame 24, Palisades 21 … Wow. I agonized over this one. I covered the first meeting between them 11 Fridays ago and the Pirates were dominant up front most of the night and put a pounding on Notre Dame’s playmakers and still found themselves hanging on at the end. Notre Dame is a better, more polished and experienced team than they were on Aug. 25. I don’t see the Crusaders making the same amount of mistakes they made in the first one and that might be enough to turn the tables.

DISTRICT 11 2A

Schuylkill Haven 42, Palmerton 21 … I have visited the Palmerton kids three different times this season and it’s a good, classy bunch. The Blue Bombers are well-coached. They will give the Hurricanes a great battle. But Haven is a perennial District 11 powerhouse with an outstanding championship pedigree. It’s tough to go against them in a big spot.

DISTRICT ONE 6A

Pennridge 34, Perkiomen Valley 14 … The Rams won the first meeting between these two 29-0 on Sept. 8. It’s two months later and 40 degrees colder, but I don’t see any reason this one will turn out differently.

Now here is Duke Helm’s latest District 11 stat leaders and other facts and figures:

2017 single game highs: ( ) is the week the player accomplished the stat

ADDED FEATURE: THE # AFTER THE PLAYERS SCHOOL IS WHERE THEY CURRENTLY RANK AT THEIR SCHOOL FOR A SINGLE SEASON

District 11 Season Leaders

Rushing (1000)

2364 Dylan Rabuck (Williams Valley) *School Record*

2325 Kobe Brish (Schuylkill Haven) 3rd

1912 Nasir Legree (Liberty) *School Record*

1890 TaQuan Bradley-Chambers (Lehighton) 3rd

1550 Sean Solomon (ES South) 9th

1543 Job Goodman (Wilson) 2nd

1532 Praize Andrews (PM East) 2nd

1521 Justin St. Hill (Jim Thorpe) 3rd

1341 Nick Breiner (Tamaqua) 2nd

1328 Logan Bachman (Central Catholic) 9th

1293 Garrett DeBoer (Bangor) 7th

1252 Alstan Wolfe (Saucon Valley) tie 13th

1240 Gerald Grube (Notre Dame) 3rd

1212 Matt Lewandowski (Mahanoy Area) 9th

1202 Cody Scherer (Lehighton) 8th

1177 Jahan Worth (Parkland)

1151 Luke Stauss (Southern Lehigh) 7th

1111 Sone Ntoh (Emmaus) 13th

1109 Zach Petiet (Saucon Valley)

1065 Tekoah Guedes (Palmerton)

1057 Ryan Clark (ES South)

Touchdowns (20)

39 Dylan Rabuck (Williams Valley) *School Record*

37 Kobe Brish (Schuylkill Haven) 3rd

28 Justin St. Hill (Jim Thorpe) *School Record*

27 Logan Bachman (Central Catholic) tie 7th

27 Jahan Worth (Parkland) tie 3rd

25 Job Goodman (Wilson) *Ties School Record*

25 Alstan Wolfe (Saucon Valley) 4th

24 Gerald Grube (Notre Dame) 3rd

22 Sean Solomon (ES South) tie 5th

21 Nick Breiner (Tamaqua) tie 3rd

21 Jared Colletti (Palisades) tie 2nd

20 Cody Scherer (Lehighton) tie 7th

20 Tekoah Guedes (Palmerton) tie 2nd

20 Luke Strauss (Southern Lehigh) tie 4th

Passing Yards (1,000)

3180 Cole DeFranco (Notre Dame) 2nd

2600 Anthony Harris (Nazareth) 2nd

2382 Jared Jenkins (Freedom) *School Record*

2131 Michael Ruisch (Parkland) 3rd

2127 Quidanie Vega (Dieruff) 2nd

1919 Javon Clements (Bethlehem Catholic) 7th

1864 Ethan Parvel (Whitehall) 4th

1738 Dylan Della Valle (PM West) 2nd

1704 Scott Poulson (Easton) 2nd

1684 Levi Engle (Williams Valley) 4th

1663 Logan Edmond (Southern Lehigh) 5th

1659 Aidan McHugh (Pleasant Valley) 5th

1640 Tekoah Guedes (Palmerton) 3rd

1587 Blake Reed (Emmaus) 4th

1502 Andrew Brett (Catasauqua) 7th

1499 Doug Weist (North Schuylkill)

1402 Frank Rauscher (Central Catholic)

1285 Deven Bollinger (Northwestern) 3rd

1184 Cody Scherer (Lehighton) 8th

1159 Cameron Clark (Wilson)

1154 Sean Stewart (Stroudsburg) 8th

1144 Dylan Rinker (PM East) 5th

1110 Logan Yoder (Tri-Valley)

1094 David Krewson (Blue Mountain)

1069 Mike Ruitort (ES South)

1020 David Quiles (ES North) *School Record*

1004 Scott Schwalm (Minersville)

Touchdown Passes (20)

30 Cole DeFranco (Notre Dame) *Ties School Record*

28 Anthony Harris Nazareth) tie 2nd

27 Ethan Parvel (Whitehall) 2nd

22 Dylan Della Valle (PM West) *Ties School Record*

21 Quidanie Vega (Dieruff) *School Record*

21 Blake Reed (Emmaus) *School Record*

21 Logan Edmond (Southern Lehigh) 3rd

20 Scott Poulson (Easton) *School Record*

20 Levi Engle (Williams Valley) tie 2nd

Receptions (40)

62 Jahan Dotson (Nazareth) 3rd

61 Dan O'Hare (Notre Dame) tie 4th

60 Miguel Hernandez (Catasauqua) tie 3rd

59 Zac Keifer (Nazareth) 6th

57 Dez Boykin (Whitehall) 4th

56 Jakob Herres (Easton) *School Record*

55 Alec Huertas (Freedom) *School Record*

54 Scott Grigas (North Schuylkill) *Ties School Record*

54 Isaiah Dejesus (Notre Dame) 8th

46 Mike Brown (Pleasant Valley) tie 2nd

46 Nate Stefanik (Nazareth) 11th

44 Victor Alvarado (Dieruff) 6th

42 Nate Calderone (Blue Mountain) *School Record*

42 Justin Pasquale (Central Catholic)

42 Khalili Edwards (PM West) 2nd

40 Tyler Hays (Parkland) 10th

40 Tristan Hillman (PM East) 3rd

Reception Yardage (600)

1057 Jakob Herres (Easton) *School Record*

931 Tyler Hays (Parkland) 2nd

915 Dez Boykin (Whitehall) 2nd

893 Scott Grigas (North Schuylkill) 3rd

889 Jahan Dotson (Nazareth) 5th

861 Alec Huertas (Freedom) *School Record*

823 Mike Brown (Pleasant Valley) 2nd

810 Bryce Ellinger (Minersville) *School Record*

784 Miguel Hernandez (Catasauqua) 6th

714 Daizhun Rhodes (Bethlehem Catholic)

730 Isaiah Dejesus (Notre Dame) 7th

708 Danny O'Hare (Notre Dame) 9th

693 Nate Stefanik (Nazareth) 8th

691 Gerald Grube (Notre Dame) 10th

684 Jake Wolfgang (Williams Valley) 6th

662 Khalili Edwards (PM West) 3rd

661 Eli Price (Southern Lehigh) 9th

649 Ashton Buchanan (Tri-Valley) 8th

643 Caleb Clymer (Northwestern) 3rd

622 Nate Calderone (Blue Mountain) *School Record*

Reception Touchdowns (9)

15 Jahan Dotson (Nazareth) 2nd

12 Eli Price (Southern Lehigh) 2nd

12 Khalili Edwards (PM West) *School Record*

12 Jakob Herres (Easton) 2nd

11 Jake Wolfgang (Williams Valley) 5th

11 Dez Boykin (Whitehall) 3rd

9 Brandon Koch (Schuylkill Haven)

9 Austin Buchanan (Tri-Valley) 2nd

9 Zack Crum (Lehighton) tie 3rd

DISTRICT 11 NOTES (week 11): 2017 leaders are listed at the bottom.

RUNNINGBACKS:UNDEFEATED TEAMS: Jahan Worth of Parkland (11-0) rushed for 127 yards and 5 td's in their win over Liberty. Worth now has 1,177 yards rushing and has scored 27 td's this season. Worth also joined the "40 td" club and has 43 career touchdowns. Dylan Rabuck of Williams Valley (11-0) rushed for 280 yards and 4 td's in their win over Marian Catholic. He broke his own single-season rushing record and now has 2,429 yards on the season to go along with 39 td's. His 39th td last week was his 1st scored in the second half this year. Dylan hasn't played in the second half in the first 10 games. His career totals have him with 5,902 yards and 75 td's. The yardage puts him in 4th place all-time in the District, 100 yards ahead of Austin Scott of Parkland. He's 571 yards behind 4th place Colin McDermott of Central Catholic. His 75 td's moves him into 10th place all-time in the District just ahead of Scott's 74 td's. Cody Scherer of Lehighton (11-0) rushed for 97 yards and 2 td's while throwing for 41 yards and 2 td's. He's now rushed for 1,202 yards and scored 20 td's while throwing for 1,184 yards and 18 td's. Teammate TaQuan Bradley-Chambers rushed for 121 yards and now has 1,890 yards this year with 18 td's. Jarred Colletti of Palisades (11-0) scored 2 td's in their win over Wilson and now has 21 td's on the season and 45 for his career. His 21 td's this year ties him for 2nd place at Palisades with John Gruver (2007) and Christian Gretzinger (2013). Teammate, junior Trey Gretzinger has 15 td's on the season and 20 for his career.

STILL PLAYING:Justin St. Hill of Jim Thorpe (10-1) rushed for 186 yards and 4 td's in their win over Tamaqua. Hill has rushed for 1,521 yards this year and needs 50 yards to break the school record of 1,570 yards that is currently held by Ryan Saunders. Saunders set the record in 2013. Hill raised his single-season school record td's to 29 and is within 3 td's of tying Jason Figura career record of 52 td's (2001-04). Luke Strauss of Southern Lehigh (9-2) rushed for 130 yards and 3 td's, caught a pass for a 53-yard touchdown and returned an interception back 12 yards for his 5th td in the game. Strauss has rushed for 1,151 yards this season and has now scored 20 td's. Strauss also joins the "40 td" club with 42 career td's. Zach Petiet of Saucon Valley (7-4) rushed for 158 yards and 3 td's to help him go over 1,000 yards rushing for the season while scoring 18 td's. He also went over 3,000 yards for his career and currently has 3,010 yards and 45 td's. Teammate Alstan Wolfe bumped his season totals to 1,252 yards rushing and 25 td's. Since he was a receiver the first 3 years, I added his total td's to his rushing totals to be able to record his career td's and he now joins the "40 td" club with 41 td's. He has 24 rushing td's, 15 receiving td's, 1 punt return td and 1 interception td in his career. Kobe Brish of Schuylkill Haven (7-4) rushed for 363 yards and another 6 td's in their win over Mahanoy Area. Brish is second in the District with 2,325 yards and 37 td's.

CAREER ENDERS: Job Goodman of Wilson finished the season rushing for 1,543 yards and scoring 25 td's. Goodman caught 19 passes for 442 yards and 6 td's. His rushing yardage is 2nd best at Wilson behind Bill Stocker's 1,704 yards in 1998. His 25 td's ties him with Brad Walter for the school record. Goodman set the school record for yards from scrimmage with 1,965 yards. He also broke the career td record with his 1 td vs Palisades. He finished with 48 td's one better than Walter (2002-05) and Sean Hoffman (2003-06). Sean Solomon of ES South rushed for 175 yards and 2 td's against Southern Lehigh to finish his senior year with 1,550 yards and 22 td's. Praize Andrews of PM East finshed his senior season with 1,532 yards rushing and 18 td's. His yardage is 2nd best behind record holder Joe Pawloski's 1,633 yards that he set in 1991.

UNDERCLASSMAN: Nasir Legree of Liberty (4-7) rushed for 119 yards against Parkland to finish his junior year with a school record 1,912 yards. ES South's junior Ryan Clark also went over 1,000 yards rushing this year. Injured late in the season he finished with 1,057 yards. Tamaqua adjusted their scoring totals and Nick Breiner finishes his junior year with 1,341 yards rushing and 21 td's. He'll enter his senior season with 2,499 yards rushing and 40 td's. Garrett DeBoer of Bangor (5-6) finished his junior year rushing for 1,293 yards and scoring 10 td's. Junior, Logan Bachman of Central Catholic (7-4) was also banged up late in the year but still rushed for 1,328 yards and scored 27 total td's.

QUARTERBACKS:UNDEFEATED TEAMS: Michael Ruisch of Parkland threw for 225 yards vs Liberty to raise his season total over 2,000 yards. He joins Devante Cross as the only Trojans to throw for over 2,000 yards in a season. Cross threw for 2,348 yards in 2014 and 2,947 yards in 2015. Ruisch is currently at 2,131 yards. Besides the stats listed in the rushing section for Lehighton's Cody Scherer, he's thrown for 2,577 career yards and 30 td passes. Williams Valley's Levi Engle threw for 218 yards and fired 4 td passes in against Marian Catholic. Engle, just a junior has thrown for 1,684 yards and 20 td passes. Ethan Brader of Palisades has thrown for 12 td's and rushed for 7 more this season. The junior has thrown 24 td passes and rushed for another 13 in his career.

STILL PLAYING: Cole DeFranco of Notre Dame threw for 221 yards and 3 td's in their win over North Schuylkill. DeFranco went over 3,000 yards passing for the season and now has 3,180 yards and 30 td passes. His yardage is 2nd behind Tre Jordan's 3.375 yards and his 30 td's ties Jordan for the school record. For his career, he's thrown for 6,219 yards and 55 td's. Both totals are 2nd at Notre Dame behind Ric Schumacher's 6,490 yards and 58 td passes. PM West's Dylan Della Valle threw for 168 yards and a td in their win over Stroudsburg and has now joined the "4000-yard" club (4,160 yards). Della Ville has thrown for 1,738 yards and a record-tying 22 td passes this year. Jeff Krisiak also threw for 22 td passes in 2012. Jared Jenkins of Freedom upped his school record yardage total to 2,382 yards. He's thrown 17 passes this year which is 4th best at Freedom. Javon Clements of Bethlehem Catholic is nearing 2,000 yards passing this year. He's thrown for 1,919 yards and thrown 17 td passes. Tekoah Guedes of Palmerton has thrown for 1,640 yards and 14 td's while rushing for 1,065 yards and 20 td's. He joins the 1,000/1,000 yard club. Matt Falcone was the 1st Bomber to join the 1,000/1,000 club when he rushed for 1,053 yards and threw for 1,147 yards in 2008. Guedes is tied with Chris Siracuse for 2nd place at Palmerton with 20 td's scored in a season. Scott Poulson of Easton (7-4) has thrown for 1,704 yards and a school record 20 td's. He breaks the tie with Jonathan Baltz and Brad Wilkins. His yardage is 2nd best at Easton behind record-holder Ian Holden's 1,868 yards in 2011. Ethan Parvel of Whitehall (8-3) went over 2,000 yards passing for his career. The junior has thrown for 1,864 yards and 27 td's this year and 2,017 yards and 29 td's for his career. Logan Edmond of Southern Lehigh has thrown for 1,663 yards and 21 td's this year. The junior increased his career totals to 3,356 yards passing and 39 td's. He moved ahead of his oldest brother Ty's totals (3,197 yards and 35 td's) but has a ways to go to catch up to brother Travis's school records (5,281 yards and 55 td passes).

CAREER ENDERS: Thad Zuber of Tamaqua ended his career with 2,967 yards passing and 24 td passes. Cameron Clark of Wilson threw for 2,857 yards and 19 td's in his career. Doug Weist of north Schuylkill ended his career throwing for 2,612 yards and 20 td passes. Blake Reed of Emmaus finishes his career with 2 school records. He holds the record for most td passes in a single season (21) and for a career (23). Mike Ruitort of ES South finishes his senior season throwing for 1,069 yards and 14 td passes. David Aquiles of ES North threw for 1,020 yards this year becoming the 1st Timberwolf to throw for over 1,000 yards in a season. John Cuiffo had over 900 yards twice in his career. He threw for 927 yards in 2004 and for 982 yards in 2005.

UNDERCLASSMAN: Anthony Harris of Nazareth threw for 2,600 yards and 28 td's to finish his sophomore season. His yardage is 2nd best at Nazareth behind Dan Harding's 3,749 yards in 2011. And his 28 td passes ties him for 2nd place with Travis Stefanik who threw 28 as a junior in 2015. Frank Rauscher of Central Catholic ended his junior season throwing for 1,402 yards and 9 td passes. Dylan Rinker of Pocono Mountain East ended his junior year throwing for 1,144 yards. Rinker wasn't the starter until after Jacob Keane was injured early in the season. Keane finished his career throwing for 1,696 yards and 16 td's.

RECEIVERS:UNDEFEATED TEAMS: Parkland's Tyler Hays caught 8 passes for 129 yards to up his season totals to 40 receptions for 931 yards and 7 td catches. Zack Crum of Lehighton caught 5 more passes for 27 yards and a td to raise his season totals to 27 catches for 473 yards and 9 td grabs. Andrew Nickles and Matt McGrath of Palisades continue to lead the Pirates with 4 td catches each. Nickles has 15 catches for 282 yards and McGrath has 19 grabs for 249 yards. Devon Rabuck of Williams Valley caught 5 passes for a school-record 196 yards and 4 td's last week. Chris Miller had 175 yards vs Line Mountain in 2013. With his twin brother Dylan rushing for 4 td's in the same game here's a record that will probably never be broken. Two brothers scoring 8 total td's in the same game with one rushing for 4 td's and the other catches 4 td passes. Devon has picked up the slack with the Vikings 2 starting receivers Jake Wolfgang and Allen Hand being out with injuries the last couple of games. The 2 have combined for 130 receptions for 3,158 yards and 39 td catches in their careers.

STILL PLAYING: Dez Boykin of Whitehall caught 2 passes last week and both went for td's. Boykin's season totals have him with 57 catches for 915 yards and 11 td catches. His career numbers have him with 174 catches for 2,911 yards and 32 td's. He's now locked into the 2nd place all-time for reception yardage in District 11. Kevin Gulyas of Central Catholic is in 1st with 4,201 yards. His 174 catches have him in 4th place all-time, 9 catches behind 3rd place Matt Camilletti of Pius X. Notre Dame's Danny O'Hare upped his season totals to 61 catches for 708 yards and 6 td's. Teammate Isaiah Dejesus has 54 receptions for 730 yards and 8 td catches. Runningback Gerald Grube has 29 grabs for 691 yards and 5 td's. Jakob Herres of Easton caught 6 passes for 142 yards and a td last week to up his season totals to school records of 56 catches for 1,057 yards. Jonathan Bisci held the reception record with 54 grabs in 2010. Mark Libiano held the yardage record when he had 1,010 yards in 1991. Libiano still holds the single-season and career totals for reception td's. He had 13 in 1991 and 22 from 1989-91. Herres has 12 td catches this year and has at least 2 games to add to that total. He also broke Shane Simpson's career reception yardage record of 1,587 that Simpson set from 2011-14. Alec Huertas of Freedom also broke a few records last week vs Emmaus. Huertas season totals have him with 55 catches for 861 yards and 7 td's. The catches and yardage break Trent Clark's school records of 54 receptions for 855 yards that he set in 1997. Clark still holds the single season td reception record with 14. Huertas needs 9 receiving yards to break Clark's career total of 1,587. Eli Price of Southern Lehigh had his consecutive games with a td catch come to an end at 10 straight. Price has 38 catches for 661 yards and 12 td's on the season. Khalili Edwards of PM West stats are almost the same as Price's. His season totals have him with 42 catches for 662 yards and 12 td's. He needs 4 catches to break Matt Shelter's single-season school record of 45 receptions and he needs 33 yards to break Jordan Hardy's yardage record of 694 yards.

CAREER ENDERS: Jahan Dotson of Nazareth finishes his career with 187 receptions for 2,755 yards and 40 td catches. His catches have him in 2nd place all-time in the District, 13 ahead of Dez Boykin of Whitehall who is still playing. His yardage is 4th best all-time in the District and his 40 td grabs are 2nd all-time behind Gulyas's 54. Teammate Zac Keifer joins the "100 catch" club. Keifer caught exactly 100 passes in his career for 1,293 yards and 12 td's. Josh Artis of Emmaus finishes his career catching 66 passes for 1,119 yards and 10 td's. Caleb Clymer of Northwestern caught 67 passes for 925 yards and 11 td's in his career. All 3 totals place him in 3rd place at Northwestern.

UNDERCLASSMAN:Scott Grigas of North Schuylkill wrapped up his junior year catching 54 passes for 893 yards and 10 td's. His receptions tie the school record that Ron Hartz set in 1982. His yardage is 3rd best at North Schuylkill behind record holder Al Marquardt (984 yards) and Hartz's 915 yards. Justin Pasquale of Central Catholic finished his junior year with 42 catches for 553 yards and a td. Pasquale will enter his senior year with 70 catches for 929 yards and 2 td's. Sophomore Naisiah Jacobs of ES North finished the season catching 36 passes for 460 yards. His catches and yardage place him in 2nd place for a single season at ES North. Jon Clouse set both records when he caught 37 passes for 490 yards in 2005. Another sophomore, Nate Stefanik of Nazareth caught 46 passes for 693 yards and 6 td's.